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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bob
From: bob@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: 2 button mouse
Message-ID: <8589@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 88 17:16:54 GMT
References: <1694@bgsuvax.UUCP> <1469@husc2.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Computer & Information Science
Lines: 41
Keywords: mouse buttons modifier keys
Summary: some like the flexibility

In article <1469@husc2.UUCP> mckenzie@husc2.UUCP (david mckenzie) writes:
>The vast majority of computer users have two hands; hence a question
>for the Sun users out there: What exactly are you doing with your
>other hand while you twiddle multiple buttons with your mouse hand?
>How is a one-button plus modifier keys scheme less quick/convenient
>for power users than multiple mouse buttons?

First off, I'm a Sun user but only rarely a SunView user.  Please make
a distinction between the machine and the many window systems that can
run on it.  In a day, I may run X10, X11, SunView, or NeWS, depending
upon what I'm working on at the time.  The only thing that saves me
from massive confusion is that my customary editor (GNU Emacs) has
native interfaces to each, that I can configure similarly.

When I'm running a window system that requires or supports no modifier
keys, my left hand is resting for a moment while I grope for my mouse
with my right.  When I'm running a window system that can support
modifier keys, my left hand may be hitting zero or more of them;
depending upon the application or window manager, and what menu I'm
trying to get access to in the current mouse context.

So, I use both schemes: multiple buttons and modifier keys, often
simultaneously if it's supported.  However, in the Baby's First X
environment that I designed for our undergrads, the user can get along
without ever knowing that the modifier keys exist, because meaningful
menus are bound (with menuwm) to naked button hits in the background.

The point is that if someone is so inclined, a full-featured window
system on a powerful workstation can be wildly customized, to the
point of being either amazingly simple to drive, or so obfuscated
that, e.g., nobody else can sit down with ~bob/.menuwmrc in effect and
get work done.  That's OK, I like it that way just fine - it's my
environment and I made it that way, and I feel constricted in a window
system where I don't have that much flexibility.

(The last time this came up, the person in the next cubicle, who
usually drives either a Mac or NeWS, made me a bumper sticker that
says "Better Living Through Complexity". :-)
-- 
 Bob Sutterfield, Department of Computer and Information Science
 The Ohio State University; 2036 Neil Ave. Columbus OH USA 43210-1277
 bob@cis.ohio-state.edu or ...!cbosgd!osu-cis!bob